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The IUP Journal of Accounting Research and Audit Practices:

Sustainable Development Goal-8 for Stock Exchanges: An Evidence-Based Performance Analysis of Indian SME Stock Indices †

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Oct, 2022
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of Accounting Research and Audit Practices
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJARAP031022
Author Name	: Egurla Kishan and V Usha Kiran
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Finance
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 37

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Abstract

Sustainable development has become a global agenda with the initiation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations. The UN Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) Initiative has set SDGs for stock exchanges. The paper focuses on SDG-8 (target:8.3), SMEs and Sustainable Development. It analyzes the performance of Indian SME stock indices and estimates the long-term relationship with Indian benchmark stock indices. For the analysis, the daily stock returns of S&P BSE SME IPO, Nifty SME Emerge, S&P BSE SENSEX and Nifty 50 indices have been considered from 2015 to 2021. ADF test, GARCH model, Johansen cointegration and VECM have been applied. The findings indicate that a majority of stock exchanges of UN SSE have adopted SME listing initiative; the SME indices generate better returns with slightly high volatility than the benchmark indices; the SME indices have cointegrated with benchmark indices; and the Nifty SME Emerge index has established a long-term relationship with both benchmark indices, i.e., S&P BSE SENSEX and Nifty 50. The findings also reveal that the S&P BSE SENSEX, Nifty 50 and Nifty SME Emerge price movements show significant long-term equilibrium convergence from short-term disturbances.

Introduction

The Brundtland Commission has defined sustainable development as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Since the Brundtland Report, the concept of sustainable development has moved beyond the initial intergenerational framework to focus more on the goal of socially-inclusive and environmentally-sustainable economic growth. On September 25, 2015, 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled, "Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". This agenda has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and associated 169 targets. The Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, launched in 2009 by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, is a UN Partnership Program of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The SSE Initiative is a United Nations body, which works on SDGs for stock exchanges. The SSE Initiative adopted five SDGs for stock exchanges at global level, i.e., Gender Equality (Goal 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8), Reduced Inequalities (Goal 10), Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12), Climate Change (Goal 13) and Global Partnerships (Goal 17). The SSE's mission is to provide a global platform for exploring how exchanges, in collaboration with investors, companies (issuers), regulators, policymakers and relevant international organizations, can enhance performance on Environmental, Social and corporate Governance (ESG) issues and encourage sustainable investment, including the financing of the UN SDGs. The SSE seeks to achieve this mission through an integrated program of conducting evidence-based policy analysis, facilitating a network and forum for multi-stakeholder consensus-building, and providing technical assistance and advisory services. The United Nations SSE (UN SSE) Initiative is working on specific UN SDGs for sustainable capital markets. The SSE is working closely with all the member stock exchanges to promote sustainable development by different initiatives like SSE global dialogues, SSE regional dialogues, ring the bell ceremonies, etc. In 2021, there were 110 stock exchanges across the world grouped with UN SSE Initiative to work on SDGs for stock exchanges.